On holiday in a declining seaside town revived by golf, three friends—a journalist with literary ambitions, an artist and a young barrister—become involved in local society, flirtations and sleuthing. Their teasing attempts to expose a companion's secretive attachments bring them to a poverty-stricken household, a bustling roadside inn and to Nell, a pretty, impulsive young woman who attracts town gossip. A forged letter, mistaken identities and mounting suspicions culminate in a nocturnal revelation that suggests theft connected with the inn, forcing characters to confront the gap between appearances and hidden motives while romance and misunderstanding complicate the inquiry.